SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch rallied back to earn a point, but eventually fell to the Rochester Americans, 5-4, in a shootout tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
Despite the loss, the Crunch have earned at least a point in three consecutive games and sit at 5-2-0-1 on the season.
Hugo Alnefelt stopped 18-of-22 shots and 0-of-2 shootout attempts between the pipes for the Crunch. Dustin Tokarski turned aside 42-of-46 shots and both shootout attempts in net for the Amerks. The Syracuse power play was held to 0-for-4, while Rochester went 1-for-2.
The Amerks were first on the board with a shorthanded goal 7:59 into the game. Damien Giroux carried the puck down the left side and centered a feed for Justin Richards to redirect into the net. Olivier Nadeau doubled the lead four minutes later when he tipped the puck in off a similar play.
The Crunch responded with a shorthanded goal of their own just 18 seconds into the middle frame. Cole Koepke sped into the zone, switched to his backhanded and beat Tokarski. Rochester was quick to regain their two-goal lead when Isak Rosen sent the puck in from the bottom of the left circle off an odd-man rush four minutes later. Syracuse then made it a one-goal game for the second time halfway through the frame. Max Crozier’s shot was stopped, but Gabriel Fortier was able to find the rebound and jam it across the goal line.
Syracuse tied the game early in the final frame when Max Groshev sent a cross-slot feed for Daniel Walcott wide open on the back door. Rochester went back on top at 12:42 off a power-play goal by Jiri Kulich who ripped a one-timer from the right point. Fortier scored his second of the night with just 2:27 remaining in the game to send the teams into overtime. Gage Goncalves’s shot was stopped, but the rebound came right out for Fortier to clean up.
After a scoreless overtime frame, the game went to a shootout. Kulich and Filip Cederqvist scored in the first two rounds to give Rochester the…
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